Public safety personnel, such as police officers, firefighters, paramedics and the like typically utilize numerous communication devices while working in the field. Public safety communication devices include, for example, mobile radios such as handheld radios and/or vehicular radios along with remote accessories, such as remote microphones, speakers, earpieces, headsets and the like. These primary, mission critical devices are typically accomplished utilizing a narrowband system operating via a private network governed by a public safety agency. Updates to public safety communication devices in the form of application software are usually accomplished at a factory or service shop.
Public safety personnel often carry additional non-mission critical devices, such as cell phones, personal digital assistants, electronic notepads and the like which operate over a broadband connection. Updates to these types of devices in the form of application software typically occur at a retail store by having the user purchase and download software into the device.
Public safety and non public safety communication devices operate independently of each other and as mentioned previously receive software updates at different types of locations using different equipment. In certain situations, such as a public safety situation, it would be desirable to have the two types of devices interoperate in a cooperative manner. As such, providing a means of distributing and uploading applications to public safety and non public safety devices is highly desirable.
Skilled artisans will appreciate that elements in the figures are illustrated for simplicity and clarity and have not necessarily been drawn to scale. For example, the dimensions of some of the elements in the figures may be exaggerated relative to other elements to help to improve understanding of embodiments of the present invention.